Grid for ice trays



Sept. 21, 1948. R. 1.. HALLOQK a 4 5 7 can non ma mm Filed April 2, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet .1 I

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. 1.. HALLQCK mun FOR VICE 'mirrs Sept..21', 1948.

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Patented Sept. 21, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRID FOR ICE 'raAYs Rebel-trey neuter, mama, N. r.

Application April 2, 1936, Serial No. 72,250

23 Claims. (01. 62-1085) My invention relates to those devices generally termed grids which are used in the production of ice cubes.

The object of my invention is to improve devices of. this sort which have for their purpose the removal of ice cubes without running tap water over the tray or ice block. The improvement involves the elimination of rubber in the use oi tray or grid while retaining a light-weight structure which can be manipulated with the use of a small amount of force. In order to use a small amount of force I employ a double-walled structure and I form this of metal plates which are made up into a number of separate wafers anchored to a member capable of being bowed. As this member is bowed it moves relative to the division wafers and they move relative to each other so that the ice cubes come ofi the grid clean with little force. The grid is extremely light but nevertheless sturdy. It is preferably an all-metal grid for a metal tray thereby improving freezing time. a grid which is durable and sanitary.

The invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings showing the preferred form and forming part of this specification, and of which:

Fig. 1 is a top view of a grid embodying theinvention in an ice tray;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a verticaltransverse sectional view taken on the line 3-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal view taken onv line t- -t of Fig. 3.;

taken on line b t of Fig. 4; 4

Fig. 6 is a partial end view of the grid;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of a transverse division member with bail attached forming part of the grid;

Fig. is a sectional view looking down and Also I aim to provide At each end or the rods is a rigid member ii. The construction or these members is most clear- 1y shown in Figs. 4 and 6. They may be made of folded plate stampings bulged at the bottom to receive the rods and forked at the top for reception 01' pivot pins i2. They are rigidly secured to the bow rods W as by soldering, brazing or welding.

Mounted on pivot pins ii are levers i3 which may be stamped from sheet steel and which have depending ears through which the pivot pins pass. These levers are so designed that upon being pulledupwardly, as indicated by arrows A in Fig. 2, their opposite ends it engage or abut the tray it in which the grid is situated. to remove the grid from the tray, preferably as described in my U. S. Patent No. 2,009,802 of July 30, 1935.

When the levers it have been moved into alignment with and pieces ii the top ends oi the portions oi. the levers (the lips remote from the hand grasp portions) contact or abut the out side parts of end pieces ii and further movement causes the parts ii and it to move as one and the spring rods it are bowed as shown in Fig. 9.

The grid includes transverse dividing members it. These members are alike. I will therefore describe one or them. It is'made up of two similar plates stampedirom very thin stainless st/eel. Two depressions are stamped in each sheet so that when the sheets are placed together they each touch all around and there is space inwardly of 'the boundary. The sheets touch.

on the vertical center-line as will be seen in Fig. 7. so that interior spaces are formed to each side of the center. The boundaries of the sheets are line-welded so that the interior spaces become hermetically sealed. Thus each element, which Fig. 8 is an elevation of a longitudinal division 7 member forming part of the grid;

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view showing operation; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a bail attached to transverse division members of the grid.

The grid includes two spring rods it made, for example, of spring steel. Rods it extend iongitudinally oi the grid at the bottom. These rods are adapted to be arched or bowed as shown in Fig. 9 by bending moments applied at the ends of the rods. The rods return to straight or original form on release of force at their ends.

may be described as a wafer, is a double-walled structure and the opposite walls are yieldable relative to each other. Furthermore the opposite walls are closer together at the bottom than at the top (Fig. ii) and closer at the outside than at the center. We might saythat the wafers are tapered downwardly and outwardly.

The transverse dividing members it are tied to the rods it by bails ii. These bails may be formed of stampings. Each has a central strap portion It and is bent to form slots i9 ior're-.

ceiving the bottom edges of the transverse dividing members. The strap portions pass under the rods and the sides are preferably spotwelded to the transverse members as at 20. The

bails give rigidity to the transverse members.

' kinds.

- These are independently made.

- transverse members.

Preferably the balls ll are welded to the transverse members and then slipped onto the rods. These units are loose on the rods.

Extending longitudinally of the rods III are longitudinal division members. These are of two The two at the ends 2i. are of one kind and the others 22 are or a different kind. I will first describe one of the parts 22 (see Fig. 8). Each is made up of opposed stamped plates made like the They may be made of very thin stainless steel. Depressions are formed in the plates in the stamping operation to provide the double wall structure. The boundaries are line-welded so that the interior space is hermetically sealed. These wafers likewise taper downwardly. At each lower corner is an car 23. When the parts are assembled these ears slip under the transverse members l6 whereby the' wafers '22 are anchored in place. This is the .only holding means for Wafers 22. The bottom edges, as seen in Fig. 3, lie between rods [0. It

, will be seen that beneath any transverse memher It and above any ball I! are the ears of two longitudinal wafers, the ears being side by side. If desired, the ear on one plate of a longitudinal wafer may be longer than the adjacent ear whereby they dovetail under the transverse members. Wafers 22 are likewise loose with respect to rods Ill. Thus rods Hi can bow evenly without constraint and without strain on the wafers. As the rods iii are bowed upwardly, I might say that the middle bottom parts of wafers 22 move downwardly relative to'the rods.

The end wafers 2| difler only in that their edges are made to conform to parts I l. The outer ends are anchored by having ears passing under rivets 24 extending through the sides of parts ll.

In assembling the parts to form the grid, the transverse members It, with balls I! attached are slipped onto the rods. The longitudinal members are then placed between the rods and the ears can be readily slipped under the transverse The grid is placed in the tray and the tray is' filled with water. Wafers i8, 2|, and 22 divide the water into sections so that, on freezing, ice cubes are formed. To remove the ice cubes, the

operator pulls upwardly and outwardly on the levers I3, preferably simultaneously; that is, so that the levers are pulled away from each other. The ends Hi of the levers l4 contact the tray and press the end walls outwardly from the ice block. There is an upward lifting component of force relative to the ice tray and the grid is thus freed from the tray. Preferably the tray is of thin sheet metal so that there is a peeling effect in the loosening of the tray from .the ice block.

The operator lifts the grid and continues the separation of the levers from each other and pressure thereagalnst. This causes bending moments to be applied to the spring rods it as the parts ii and I3 become in effect a rigid member. The rods are thus bowed upwardly as shown in Fig. 9. Due to the double wall structure of the division members'and their yieldability as the ice expands in forming, the adhesion of the ice to the division members is less than if these parts were solid.

on bowing rods III, the ice' pieces are first released from the transverse members. Separation starts from the top and there is a progressive peeling downwardly along the lateral walls of the transverse members. While this is going on, the ice pieces remain adhering to the center longitudinal wafers. It seems that the portions of rods it stay straight under the center parts of the ice pieces and curve at the places where the rods pass through the balls. This sets up a strain in the rods which may be considered an accumulated force. When the release from the transverse members is completed, the upward strain of the rod against the ice pieces causes a quick release at the center wafers. I have found this release to be more effective with this construction than when the rods are tied to the center wafers at theirrespective centers.

It wfll be obvious that variations may be made in the structure.

What I claim is:

1. A grid including a spring member adapted to be bowed, transverse members held with respect to said spring member, and longitudinal members between the transverse members held with respect to the other members only at their longitudinal ends adjacent the transverse members.

2. A grid as defined in claim 1 including common members for tying the transverse and lon8ito the transverse members and'the lower edges of the longitudinal members being free of the tying means at their lower edges.

4. A grid for a refrigerator including a series of double-walled transverse dividing members, a series of double-walled longitudinal dividing members, said members being separately hermetically sealed, the bottom corners of the iongitudinal members being tied to the transverse members, the transverse and longitudinal members being otherwise separable, andmeans to arch the grid to spread the separable portions of the dividing members.

5. A grid for an ice tray including a U-shaped spring member, means to spread the legs of the U and curve the bottom, and wall members mounted on the U bottom to flare when the legs are spread.

6. A grid including a longitudinal member adapted to be bowed, a lever handle pivotally associated with said member and adapted first for releasing the grid from a tray and then for bowing said member, said lever handle being movable through a given are, and a part attached to and movable in correspondence with the lever handle having a first abutment engageable with a tray at a given point in the lever am for release of the grid from the tray and a second abutment engageable with another part of the grid at a further given point in the arc of travel of the lever handle to cause the grid to be bowed.

'7. A removable grid for an ice tray having a bottom and side walls, said grid being capable of'being bowed and including a longitudinal partition and transverse partitions and relatively rigid end pieces, and levers pivoted at the upper ends of said rigid end pieces and operative upon movement thereof to lift the grid from the tray, said levers also having lips engageable with parts of the grid so related to the pivot points of the levers that the levers are operative upon limited movement thereof in the same direction to exert a bending moment in said grid after the latter is lifted from the tray.

8. A removable grid for an ice tray comprising structure adapted to be bowed and including a longitudinal partition and transverse partitions forming a plurality of ice cube compartments, and a lever pivotally associated with said longitudinal partition and operative to engage a part of the tray to lift the grid from the tray with the ice cubes attached thereto, said lever also having a lip engageable with a part of the grid so related to the pivot point of the lever that the lever is operative upon further movement in the same direction to bow said grid and free the ice cubes from said transverse and longitudinal partitions.

9. A removable grid for an ice tray including ,a. longitudinal partition and transverse partitions, and a lever pivoted at one end of said grid and operativeupon movement thereof to lift the grid from the tray, said lever also being operative upon continued limited movement thereof in the same direction to exert a, bending moment insaid grid after the latter is lifted from the tray, and said grid being so constructed and arranged that it is rigid when said lever is operated to lift thegrid from the tray and flexible when said lever is operated to exert said bending moment.

10.. Ice forming apparatus including, a tray, a distortable grid, and levers pivoted on said grid at opposite upper end parts thereof and having hand-grasp portions and opposite extensions. said extensions being constructed and arranged to contact the tray on moving the levers and to contact the grid on further movement of the levers at places so related to the pivot points of the levers that force couples can be applied at opposite ends of the grid to distort the grid.

11. A grid for refrigerators including a plurality of aligned vertical longitudinal dividing members, separate transverse dividing members disposed between the longitudinal members, and means for holding said members in position relative to each other including an underlying longitudinal member held to said members adjacent the ends of the lo er edges of the longitudinal dividing members and free to move relative to intermediate parts of said lower edges, said imderlying member providing recesses in alignment with the longitudinal dividing members.

12. A grid as defined by claim 11 in which the longitudinal member is relatively narrow and is made of spring material and is adapted to be bowed so that the longitudinal dividing members enter the recesses on bowing.

13. A removable grid for an ice-tray having a bottom and side walls, said grid including individual longitudinal and transverse partitions held together so as to be relatively movable, and mechanism including a lever pivoted at an upper part of said grid and movable through an arc, said mechanism including a part adapted, upon movemovement thereof to release the grid from the I tray, said mechanism also including a movable part adapted, upon further movement of the lever to a second predetermined point in its arc of travel. to abut a .part of the grid and being operative upon said last-named abutment to cause relative movement of said partitions after the grid is released from the tray.

14. Ice forming-apparatus including a tray, r distortable grid including separate compartment forming members and a longitudinal member for holding the compartment forming members while permitting relative movement therebetween, said longitudinal member having a part positioned at an upper part of the grid, and leverage mechanism pivotally mounted on said longitudinal member at the upper part of the grid and constructed and arranged to cause force application between the tray and grid'for separating them and constructed and arranged to cause force application between spaced points oi the longitudinal member to exert a distorting force in the grid.

15. A grid for refrigerators including a plural-,

ity of aligned vertical longitudinal dividing members, separate transverse dividing members disposed between the longitudinal members, and means for holding said members in position relative to eachother including longitudinally extending distortable means held to said members adjacent the ends of edges of the longitudinal dividing members and free to move relative to intermediate parts of said lower edges, said distortable means being so constructed and arranged relative to said members that, ondistortion of tortable means held to said members adjacent the ends of edges of the longitudinal dividing members and free to move relative to intermediate parts of said lower edges, and members at the ends of said holding means for distorting the same, said distortable means being so constructed members, separate transverse dividing members disposed between the longitudinal members, and means for holding said members in position relative to each other including an underlying longitudinal member held to said members adja cent the ends of the lower edges of the longitudinal dividing members and free to move relative to intermediate parts of said lower edges,

said underlying member being so constructed and arranged relative to the longitudinal and transverse dividing members that, on movement of the underlying member, parts thereof intermediate transverse members have substantial upward movement without interference by longitudinal members.

18. 'A grid for refrigerators including a plurality of aligned vertical longitudinal dividing members, separate transverse dividing members disposed between the longitudinal members, means for holding said members in position relative to each other including an underlying longtiudinal resilient member adapted to be bowed held to said dividing members adjacent the ends of the lower edges of the longitudinal dividing members and free to move relative to intermediate parts of said 'lower edges and extensions at the ends of said resilient member for bowing the same. said underlying member being so constructed and arranged relative to the transverse and iongitudinal dividing members that, on bowing the underlying member, parts thereof intermediate transverse members have substantial upward movement without interference by longitudinal members.

19; A grid including a resilient member adapted to be bowed, transverse members held with respect to said resilient member, and longitudinal members between the transverse members and having ears at their ends along a longitudinal edge tudinal edge of said longitudinal members bein free of said connectingmeans.

21. A distortable grid removably fitting in an ice tray for freezing ice and including p t compartment forming members and a longitucii nal member for holding the compartment forming members while permitting relative movement therebetween. and mechanism including one or more members mounted at an upper portion of said grid and constructed and arranged to be movable from a plane parallel to the upper longitudinal edge of said compartment forming members to a vertically extending-position and then operable in the latter position to cause force application in opposite directions between spaced points of the longitudinal member to exert a dis.-

torting force to facilitate breaking of the ice 0 Number I 35 bond.

'22. In a grid for ice trays, a spring member, wall pieces mounted on said spring member. and

other wall pieces held between the spring member'and the first-mentioned wall pieces whereby,

the first-mentioned wall pieces hold the other wall pieces to said spring member.

23. In a grid for ice trays, a slotted longitudinal spring member, longitudinal wall pieces loosely mounted to in part project into the slotting of the longitudinal member. and transverse wall pieces directly mounted on the spring member and actingto position the longitudinal wall pieces.

ROBERT LAY HALLOCK.

aaraaauces crrsn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 1,824,309 Storer Sept. 22, 1931 Leazms Chilton Oct. 18, 1932 r 2,009,802 Hallock July 30, 1935 2,011,849 Chilton Aug. 20, 1935 2,032,534 Gaugler Mar. 3, 1936 2,037,517 Saler Apr. 14,1936 2,037,520 Anderson Apr. 14, 1936 Buchanan June 9, 1936 

